Re: I just wondered ......


"Max Mulder" <maxmulder@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:mn.cb8c7d61c9a5103c.46845@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> dave wrote on 25-1-2006 :
>
<snip>
>
>> 5) What about those types who are always losing things. At £90 a go it
>> would get very expensive very quickly.
>
> I have never been asked for proof of identity in my life.

In that case, why do you need an identity card?

> It's only 13 euros as far as I know and you get a new one. You have to
> fill in a form (Verlustanzeige) stating why you have no longer got it.
>
> There are many countries where they have identity cards. Germany, Belgium,
> Italy as far as I know. Switzerland, and nobody in these countries seems
> to mind. It saves you the cost of a passport, because they can be used for
> travelling within the EU.
>
> Why worry? I have nothing to hide, I always say.

"if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear" is one of those
banal, inane, and trite cliches trotted out by supporters of this idiot
scheme. It implicitly presumes that the authorities and their agents will
act with honesty and integrity, that there will be no system failures, and
that citizens don't have legitimate reasons for keeping certain things
secret.

This isn't just about having an identity card. It is about the National
Register and a myriad of other issues: that the identity cards scheme is a
solution looking for a problem; that this will be the largest public-sector
IT project in Europe, and the public-sector IT projects in the UK don't fare
too well at all; that the Government has been secretive and dishonest about
the costs of the scheme; that they have been dishonest about the benefits of
the scheme and the reasons for its introduction; that they haven't discussed
what will happen if the scheme fails individuals; and so on.

I am not aware of any country in the world, let alone Europe, using a system
similar to the UK proposal.


.

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